On the “Night in Which Jesus Was Betrayed” the Tennessee Legislature Faced Jesus and Told Him What They Thought

Field Notes From a Religion-Less Christian

Maundy Thursday, April 6, 2023

On the “Night In Which Jesus Was Betrayed” the Tennessee Legislature Faced Jesus and Told Him What They Thought

It is too wildly and tragically ironic that irony is too light a word for it. It was more like caustically and arrogantly mocking. “In the Night In Which He was Betrayed” is the way the Christian Liturgical Words of Institution names the Maundy Thursday, “Commandment (mandatum) of ‘Love One Another as I have Loved You’” Thursday (see John 13:34). On that night, on the night that the Christian Church observed the “Night in Which He was Betrayed,” the State of Tennessee Legislature looked Jesus in the eye and betrayed him again. They looked Jesus in the eye and gave him the Finger.

What? How could I accuse them of such monstrosity? For two reasons: not only did they not “love one another as I have loved you” by racistly rejecting and ejecting the two Black Legislators Justin Jones and Justin Pearson while looking the other way at the White Legislator Gloria Johnson who was accused of the same misbehavior, but worse, and Justin Pearson said as much: they denied and dismissed the voice and vote, to say nothing of the pain and suffering, of the thousands of young (and old alike) people demonstrating to plead the Legislature to act on sane gun violence legislation.

The Republican Majority in the Tennessee Legislature has power and they have every right to exercise it, but not to abuse it. But of course, then too, we must recognize this abuse has been a long time happening and coming, and the same is the case in my State of Florida: the gerrymandering of the political voting districts has given the power to legislate to the minority.

There are a couple of roots that must be dug up and cast aside in order for justice and democracy to prevail: the deep and dark money in electoral politics and this gerrymandering of districts.

So there is grievous damage done against not only the individual Legislators involved but also the voice and vote of the Tennessee citizenry, but there is an even greater and now not so insidious but rather baldly apparent damage: this act of using Legal Authority, attained by whatever means over months or years, to dismiss and silence dissent, is the way Fascism works. The Tennessee Legislature has damaged democracy and is doing so in the name of God and Country. This is Fascist and needs to be named as such and not simply dismissed as an expression of what happens in partisan politics. This is not partisan politics, this is Fascism.

Naming this can bring us to attention, but will not solve the problem. The solution comes in the participation of all citizens to give voice and vote.

Now is the time.

On the issue of Gun Violence we must be laser focused on policy and vote out of office anybody who does not support four things: Safer Gun Storage Laws, Universal Background Checks, Limited Ammunition Magazines, and Banning Assault Weapons.

There are, of course, other issues that scream for attention: not the least of which is Environmental Stewardship, the flagship of that being Climate Change because of carbon emissions, and which, I would argue, is an even greater threat to children and all than the bullets from a gun.

Now is the time.

Don’t sit back and watch democracy’s demise by authoritarian and fascist actions.  

Act on what you care about. And Love One Another as you do so.